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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Fela Kuti Glastonbury 1984 full show


Confusion break bones He orchestrates with his body and being, moving about the stage setting the rhythm and then bringing the thing to life the mass of musicians dancers and audience once it is up and on the rails set by the steady rolling beat it becomes chant and returns swaying preaching gyrations and visitations as Fela strides from microphone to keyboards to drums directing all the time the wall of musicians and dancers flanking Him driving them harder with clenched fists and twisting body the whole thing opens like some bright flower the round returns voices blend into one another riding the spine of the rise and fall one half hour into the whole the first song ends and then comes a description of His love for the vernacular "No coloureds No dogs" he reminisces He is a teacher the english and their democracy and His demo-crazy the demonstration begins again now stripped down ringed and painted teacher don't teach me nonsense He sets the pace with His hard hand cigarette magic like smoke from the keyboard now the dance begins proper fire light and plaited horns blow and we rise to the richest poor in the world while another steps forward from the flow and gives a solo that parts the wash like Moses at the sea sound is the treasure here the whole brass wave breaks over us there are few black faces in the crowd He knows he is the core here and Femi bows to the future trance birds launch themselves from the stage out over the darkness of a night that does not exist lighting the way jewels in the velvet spectacle of sound they hold as a solid mass one with the work of the Master lightning man a hand waves brings the whole to a lull a slow deep roll where words become stepping stones for the mind rounds bend from front round the world Iran Jordan Vietnam New York Spain and back again Nigeria pearl of Africa bleeding like a car dragged corpse on the road side still spitting the name of her murderer poor man he cry rich man he miss I beg everyone to join my song the piano becomes a rhythm instrument now it is but song and beats dancers rush and performs the books the bars to a world they are trapped by and in the circle of knowledge that came with everything they now claim in play like water through the hand a small light makes a grain of sand seem like a diamond it closes over in blur as they leave the stage.

1991 The Year Punk Broke



1991 The Year Punk Broke documents a turning point. Following the 1991 tour of Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Babes in Toyland, Gumball, Dinosaur Jr., and The Ramones. Also featured in the film are Mark Arm, Dan Peters and Matt Lukin of Mudhoney, Courtney Love of Hole, and roadie Joe Cole, who was murdered in a robbery three months after the tour ended. The film is dedicated to him.



The divine Kim Gordon, of Sonic Youth, object of youthful adoration when I was a punker.

The Young Ones


The Young Ones S1E3 - Boring

All over the northern hemisphere young people are going off to university. They set up share houses and begin the climb; out of bed and into the machinery of life. Boring.

Monday, August 29, 2011

BBC Arena - T.S. Eliot




For the first time on television, Arena tells the whole story of the life and work of TS Eliot including the happiness he found in the last years of life in his second marriage. His widow Valerie Eliot has opened her personal archive, hitherto unseen, including the private scrapbooks and albums in which Eliot assiduously recorded their life together.

Arena brings an unprecedented insight into the mysterious life of one of the 20th century's greatest poets, and re-examines his extraordinary work and its startling immediacy in the world today. Thomas Stearns Eliot materialises as banker, critic, playwright, children's writer, churchwarden, publisher, husband and poet.

Contributors include Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Lady Spender, Jeanette Winterson, Christopher Ricks and Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1961,Documentary) - by Satyajit Ray



Rabindranath Tagore
Script. commentary & Direction: Satyajit Ray
1961, India. Documentary, 54 min, B/W
Producer: Films Division, Govt. of India

Cinematography: Soumendu Roy
Editing: Dulal Dutta
Art Direction: Bansi Chandragupta
Music: Jyotirindra Moitra

Cast
Raya Chatterjee, Sovanlal Ganguli, Smaran Ghosal, Purnendu Mukherjee, Kallol Bose, Subir Bose, Phani Nan, Norman Ellis

Summary
The documentary details the life and work of the celebrated Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West." Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, born in Calcutta. He was educated at home. At seventeen he was sent to England for formal schooling, which he did not complete. Tagore was knighted by the ruling British Government in 1915, but within a few years he resigned the honor as a protest against British policies in India.

The documentary was made to celebrate Tagore's birth centenary in May 1961. Ray was conscious that he was making an official portrait of India's celebrated poet and hence the film does not include any controversial aspects of Tagore's life. However, it is far from being a propaganda film.

The film comprises dramatized episodes from the poet's life and archived images and documents.

Comments
The dramatized sequences of boy Rabi (Rabindranath Tagore) and young Tagore in his twenties are moving and lyrical. Ray has been reported to have said, "Ten or twelve minutes of it are among the most moving and powerful things that I have produced".

Awards * President's Gold Medal, New Delhi, 1961 * Golden Seal, Locarno, 1961 * Special Mention, Montevideo, 1962

Meeting a Milestone (Sangemeel Se Mulaqat) - Goutam Ghose (1989)



The film captures the magic of Bismillah Khan's music: the Shehnai, and Bismillah Khan, the man his hometown, Benaras. We learn how Bismillah Khan, the phenomenon, gradually evolved from a 14-year-old boy accompanying his Mamu (uncle) and guru Nabi Baksh Khan at a concert in Allahabad to become, in course of time, one of India's all time greats. Through discussion, Bismillah Khan's music, singing and stunning visuals of his beloved Banaras, we realize that his main belief is that music is the supreme form of living; his abiding philosophical concern for the "Truth", his deep rooted religious convictions and his unshakable faith in the Supernatural. Through various gripping incidents and anecdotes, we go through the evolution of the Shehnai in Indian life and how Benaras is an integral part of his life and sensibility. For all lovers of Indian Music, Bismillah Khan and the Shehnai are one. It is truly meeting a milestone, for he occupies a unique place on the endless road of music.

__
Director/Camera : Goutam Ghose
Cast : Ustad Bismillah Khan and Party
Produced by : NFDC

1989/ 90 Mins/ Urdu-Hindi/ Documentary

Festival Participation / Awards: Cairo International Film Festival Egypt, 1991/ Rotterdam Film Festival, Netherlands, 1991 / North South Media Meetings, Geneva, 1991

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bikini Kill


A recent Kathleen Hanna interview from GritTV

In 1997 I had just come back from 7 months in Asia living like a Sadhu. Bikini Kill were playing at the Manning Bar at Sydney Uni. I climbed the two story drain pipe to get in for free. I saw them, it was great. Ahhh Youth, where are you today?

Bikini Kill "Suck My Left One"

Bikini Kill was an American punk rock band. Formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990, the group consisted of vocalist and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band is widely considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement, and was notorious for its radical feminist lyrics and fiery performances. Their music was characteristically abrasive and hardcore-influenced.

While occasionally collaborating with high-profile acts such as Nirvana and Joan Jett, Bikini Kill was well-known for shunning major labels and the mainstream rock press. After two full-length albums, several EPs and two compilations, the band disbanded in 1998.

Friday, August 19, 2011

People Who Do Noise



People Who Do Noise is a film about the experimental music of Portland, Oregon. Extensive interviews and intimate performance footage provide an intense portrait of the motivations, emotions, and ideas that go into this uncompromising, sometimes brutal musical form. Unwavering in its focus, the film brings to light an art form unfathomable to many, with only the words of the musicians themselves providing any explanation for the pulsating sonic chaos they create.
most inaccessible of genres.

Featuring performance footage and interviews with :
Smegma
Daniel Menche
Pulse Emitter
Yellow Swans
Honed Bastion
Oscillating Innards
GOD (bryan eubanks and leif sundstrom)
Kitty Midwife
Josh Hydeman
Soup Purse
Sisprum Vish
Argumentix
Redglaer
With Caro

Such Hawks Such Hounds: Scenes from the American Hard Rock Underground (Full Documentary)



Such Hawks Such Hounds explores the music and musicians of the American hard rock underground circa 1970-2007, focusing on the psychedelic and '70s proto-metal-derived styles that have in recent years formed a rich body of unclassifiable sounds.

This is a great documentary film by John Srebalus about heavy music of USA. Music , interviews, live and some of the heavy metal, stoner, doom and drone legends from 1970 till now. More than one hour of great music, historic point of views, attitude and great people.

Features Mario Lalli, Eddie Glass, Tom Davies, Greg Anderson, Stephen McCarthy , Geof O'Keefe, Al Cisneros, Chris Hakius, Lori S., Joey Osbourne, Mark Arm, Isaiah Mitchell, Scott Wino Weinrich, Mario Rubalcaba, Mike Eginton, Joe Preston, Scott Reeder, Tony Tornay, Larry Lalli, Brant Bjork, Matt Pike, Ethan Miller, Noel Von Harmonson, Ian Christe, Joe Carducci, Tony Presedo, Laurel Stearns, Chris Kosnik, Bob Pantella, Finn Ryan, Michael Gibbons, Jenny McGee, Billy Anderson, Arik Roper, Randy Huth, Josh Martin, Jason Simon, Steve Kille, Nicky Emmert, Stephen O'Malley, John Gibbons, Isobel Sollenberger

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

LSD: The Beyond Within (1986)



This refreshingly frank and impartial study of the discovery and development of the notorious hallucinogenic drug is notably free of moral judgmental, and features contributions from such legendary heroes of psychedelia as Albert Hoffman - the Swiss scientist who discovered the drug - Aldous Huxley - author of 'The Doors of Perception' - Ken Kesey - author of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

San Francisco 1968 (Music by Pink Floyd)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Vertige (1969)



Director: Jean Beaudin
Year: 1969
Time: 41 mins
Music: Serge Garant


Many films were produced in the 60s, both emic and etic, documenting the violent and sometimes silly ideological revolutions that swept Western middle-class youngsters of the time, producing a fascinating an apparently endless vault of cinematic experimentation and increasingly conventional audiovisual tropes. Far more interesting, for instance, than The Invasion of the Thunderbolt Pagoda, is Jean Beaudin's debut work Vertige. Though its point is somewhat vague, it is both visually and sonically one of the most compelling exercises in the tradition of lysergic films of the 60s. Sympathetic but subtly critical, Vertige presents itself as a psychological portrait of the escape and/or contestation tactics of the decade's youth: while war, violence, famine and poverty continue to devastate the planet, these youngsters seek refuge in the hedonistic haven of sexual liberation, lysergic research and communal fictions. Richly textured visuals and bold scenic montage are some of the key elements in Vertige, but it is Serge Garant's fine contemporary soundtrack, and its intimate rapport with the scenic rhythms, that catapult the film beyond the conventions of psychedelic cinema. Famed as a pioneer of contemporary music in Canada, Garant provides am eclectic score that ranges from atonal symphonic exercises to psych-rock, concrète and electroacoustic soundscapes. Such diverse approaches, and their powerful connections with the screen, give Vertige a highly nuanced and refined cadence, and render it one of the finest and most compelling examples of the genre. -- Eye of Sound

Alex Trocchi: A Life in Pieces



This biography attempts to portray the many sides to Alexander Trocchi's personality through the words and memories of some of those who interacted with Trocchi during his lifetime. Contributors range from Patti Smith to Edwin Morgan, William Burroughs to Irvine Welsh, Leonard Cohen to Terry Southern, Jane Lougee Bryant to Allen Ginsberg, Ned Polsky to Marianne Faithful, Greil Marcus to Kit Lambert. Combined with these pieces are extracts taken from key essays by the man himself, including "Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds" and "Cain's Film" and previously unpublished interviews. Born in Glasgow in 1925, Alexander Trocchi had by the time of his death in 1984, cut a colourful swathe through many of the important post-war cultural movements both in Europe and America. A controversial figure, he has been variously described as a junkie, visionary, pimp, Scottish beat, literary outlaw, pornographer, philosopher, underground organizer and antique-book collector.

My scow is tied up in Flushing, NY, alongside the landing stage of the Mac Asphalt and Construction Corporation. It is now just after five in the afternoon. Today at this time it is still afternoon, and the sun, striking the cinderblocks of the main building of the works has turned them pink. The motor cranes and the decks of the other scows tied up round about are deserted.
Half an hour ago I gave myself a fix.
So begins Cain's Book, Alexander Trocchi's incredible novel of existential dread. Young Adam, its predecessor, is better known, but the latter is the "Scottish Beat's" classic.
Asked to name the best existential literature, most of us would probably say Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre or Franz Kafka. But Cain's Book actually takes the reader one step further into the philosophical world of existential angst than any of them. It positively drowns us in a word of unremitting absurdity and meaninglessness.
A roman à clef, Cain's Book details the life of one Joe Nechhi, a Glaswegian heroin addict living and working on a scow in New York's Hudson harbor. It is a book almost entirely devoid of plot: Nechhi occasionally details trips into the city to score heroin, recollects his childhood in Glasgow, or talks of his attempts to write a book. What is incredible about the book is its unrelenting bleakness, and the sheer poetic quality of Trocchi's writing.
Heroin for Trocchi, as Remainder author Tom McCarthy noted in a lecture on Cain's Book recently, "is a moveable void: taking that void around the city with him, in him, he ensures that he inhabits negative space constantly. This is his poetic project and it's also the way his whole perception system works at its most basic level (the two are the same)."
In real life, Trocchi seemed very glad to cut himself off from his peers, saying that his only concerns as a writer were "sodomy and lesbianism", that those were the only interesting subjects in the previous 20 years of Scottish writing and that "I have written it all."
Sadly, Cain's Book was his last. As the 60s gave way to the 70s, Trocchi's addiction to heroin took its toll and his talent lay pretty much squandered. The stories of his wild and tragic life are infamous and extensively documented in many of the leading "swinging 60s" biographies (Marianne Faithfull's account of doing drugs with Trocchi is one of the best). Despite his addictions, and his sad death at the age of 59, Trocchi left us some of the bleakest, most beautiful writing to come out of the 60s.
In Cain's Book the writing is all - the words ebb and flow like the inky blackness of the Hudson River. Trocchi's descriptive powers are mesmerising: one barely even notices the lack of narrative drive until after the book has been put down.
His other books includes some interesting pseudonymous pornography for the Olympia Press. (Titles like Helen and Desire, Sappho of Lesbos and White Thighs deliver their smut with a Sadean political edge.) Young Adam, of course, was turned into a successful film starring Ewan McGregor, and helped to raise the author's public perception a little. But it's Cain's book that best fulfils Trocchi's hopes for "the invisible insurrection of a thousand minds".

What's Happening (1967)

http://www.ubu.com/film/branca_happening.html

From Ubuweb: “An irreverent portrait of America of the 60s seen through the experiences of artists of the Beat Generation and Pop Art. The America of the Vietnam war, ploughed by contradictions and explosive social tensions but potentially saturated with expectations for the future. With: Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Gregory Corso, Marie Benois and Leon Kraushar.”
From the Ginsberg Project:
“The prophecies of Marinetti are coming true some of them, the wilder, more poetic ones”, so, gleefully, declares Allen in this quintessentially 1967 documentary film by Antonello Branca, What’s Happening? What, indeed, is happening? Poets and painters and a brash New York City just for that moment in time and space come together. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg candidly speak (Andy speaks!). Allen appears first (around six and a half minutes in) being interviewed as he walks along the street and then (circa 3o minutes in) is seen holding forth at a street cafe. Gregory Corso makes a cameo appearance right at the very end (with a baby!). He gets the punch line. “War makes people crazy”.
“We have all come here together. Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground, poet Gerard Malanga, over here, if you move your camera, poet Ed Sanders of a rock n roll group called The Fugs [unfortunately mis-translated on the screen by the Italian translator as The Fags!]..over (t)here, Tuli Kuperfberg, a poet and singer in The Fugs, over there, writing at the table. Peter Orlovsky with the long hair, who is a poet and also a singer, behind him, his brother, who was in a madhouse for 14 years. He’s a superstar of the Underground. Oh, and Jonas Mekas, Jonas Mekas, head of the Filmmakers Cooperative. He’s the one who puts together films like Flaming Creatures and The Brig and sends them around Europe and in America, the impresario. He also makes films, which he’s doing now.”

Love: The Arthur Lee Story

Love Story (Full Version) from Start Productions on Vimeo.



A 1991 “documentary” on Arthur Lee. The three key people involved in its creation are dead or, in the case of Crimson Crout, nowhere to be found. Directed by the mysterious Crout from a concept by Arthur Lee and compiled by Los Angeles writer, deejay and garage/punk/psychedelic promoter Frank Beeson, the video has amateur production values overall but is redeemed by laid back interviews with Lee (conducted by a barely present Beeson) and some decent live footage of Lee performing with latter day Love members Melvan Whittington and Joe Blocker as well as two members of The Knack, Bruce Gary and Berton Averre.

The film was made during Lee’s tentative re-emergence as an artist after a long dormant period during the 1980s. His return to the public eye was interrupted when he was incarcerated in 1995 for possession of a hand gun.

The live footage is taken from a series of gigs in 1989, during which Lee was regaining his footing as a performer.

The documentary, like Lee, is a bit ramshackle. The good news is that a decade after it was shot, a re-invigorated Arthur Lee returned to the stage for some of the best live shows of his incredible life, receiving the accolades he so richly deserved.

I can’t find anything on director Crimson Crout other than he released a 45rpm record in 1975 with two songs, “10,000 Years” and Redneck Ways.” John Einarson, author of the excellent Arthur Lee biography Forever Changes Arthur Lee And The Book Of Love was unable to track down the “elusive” Crout in researching his book. Who is this mystery man? Beeson?

Bed Peace (1969)



Dear Friends,

In 1969, John and I were so naïve to think that doing the Bed-In would help change the world.
Well, it might have. But at the time, we didn't know.

It was good that we filmed it, though.
The film is powerful now.
What we said then could have been said now.

In fact, there are things that we said then in the film, which may give some encouragement and inspiration to the activists of today. Good luck to us all.

Let's remember WAR IS OVER if we want it.
It's up to us, and nobody else.
John would have wanted to say that.

Love, yoko

Yoko Ono Lennon
London, UK
August 2011

ABOUT THIS EXCLUSIVE SCREENING OF BED PEACE

BED PEACE is FREE to watch exclusively here on YouTube and IMAGINEPEACE.com for ONE WEEK ONLY, ending at midnight (NY time) on Sunday 21st August 2011.

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ABOUT BED PEACE

1969 was the year that John & Yoko intensified their long running campaign for World Peace. They approached the task with the same entrepreneurial expertise as an advertising agency selling a brand of soap powder to the masses. John & Yoko's product however was PEACE, not soft soap, and they were determined to use any slogan, event and gimmick in order to persuade the World to buy it.

BED PEACE (directed by Yoko & John and filmed by Nic Knowland) is a document of the Montreal events and features John & Yoko in conversation with, amongst others, The World Press, satirist Al Capp, activist Dick Gregory, comedian Tommy Smothers, protesters at Berkeley's People's Park, Rabbi Abraham L. Feinberg, quiltmaker Christine Kemp, psychologists Timothy Leary & Rosemary Leary, CFOX DJs Charles P. Rodney Chandler & Roger Scott, producer André Perry, journalist Ritchie York, DJ & Promoter Murray The K, filmmaker Jonas Mekas, publicist Derek Taylor & personal assistant Anthony Fawcett.

Featured songs are Plastic Ono Band's GIVE PEACE A CHANCE & INSTANT KARMA, Yoko's REMEMBER LOVE & WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND & John's acoustic version of BECAUSE.

"As we said before: WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It)" - yoko

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BED PEACE

Directed by Yoko Ono & John Lennon
Starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono

FILMMAKERS
Yoko Ono
John Lennon
Nic Knowland
Franco Rosso
Malcolm Hawley
Angus Trowbridge
Wendy Bindloss
Mike Lax
Richard Key
Jack Reilly
Mike Billing

Bag Productions
© 1969 Yoko Ono Lennon.

Friday, August 12, 2011

The James Dean Story



The James Dean Story, a 79 minute documentary chronicling the life and times of Jimmy Dean, came out two years after the young actor’s death. Most notably, the film was directed by Robert Altman, a young director who would eventually make MASH, Nashville, The Player, Gosford Park, etc. You can find a downloadable version of the documentary over at the Internet Archive.

Monday, August 08, 2011

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Revealed



June 24 (Bloomberg) -- "Bloomberg Game Changers" profiles Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook Inc. and one of the world's youngest billionaires. This program includes interviews with Tyler Winklevoss, Cameron Winklevoss and Divya Narendra, who accused Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for the social-networking website. On June 23, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss said they won't ask the U.S. Supreme Court to undo a settlement of their claims. (Source: Bloomberg)

Saturday, August 06, 2011

WHEN WE GROW, This is what we can do (Full Documentary)



"When We Grow...This Is What We Can Do" is an educational documentary concerning the facts about cannabis. In this feature length documentary we explore everything there is, from industrial hemp to medicinal cannabis use, from the origins of cannabis prohibition to the legality of growing equipment.
A film by Seth Finegold and presented by Luke Bailey.

Featuring Interviews with:
Professor David Nutt (Head of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs)
Mr Peter Reynolds (Head of CLEAR UK, formerly the Legalize Cannabis Alliance)
Ms Sarah Martin (Medicinal cannabis patient)

Find out more at:
blogtopus.tumblr.com

For more information contact:
Finegold2 (via YouTube messages)

If you have any issues with copyright protection please contact blogtopuscontent@gmail.com

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http://blogtopus.tumblr.com/wwg

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